Journal Contributor John Sekol writes:
Born in Rochester, NY in 1955, I grew up in the middle of the Space Age. Many of the most vivid memories of my childhood revolve around the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs. I can still picture my scrapbook filled with newspaper clippings of Alan Shepherd's flight, John Glenn's orbital mission, Ed White's space walk.
A mission and a moment I'll never forget happened in December of 1968, when Apollo 8 first took man to the moon. Listening to Borman, Lovell and Anders read from Genesis on Christmas Eve while seeing pictures of our home planet from a quarter-million miles away brought tears to my eyes. That single moment described not only the awesome feat of visiting another planet, but also man's relative insignificance against the backdrop of the universe.
As an engineer, the sheer magnitude of the accomplishments from a technology and project management standpoint will always boggle my mind. The lunar program stands as an achievement that will likely never be duplicated. Even with today's technological advancements, we've lost something ... a youthful enthusiasm, a spirit of reckless abandon, the will to do whatever it takes to succeed. I only hope that the story told in the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal will help to inspire future generations to tackle impossible tasks, knowing that history shows they can accomplish anything.
